I Am Tokyo
by pastel-sea-creature
Summary: There are over eighty billion ordinary people on the earth living ordinary lives. There are also extraordinary people who live among the ordinary ones. We have passed them on the street almost every day of our lives unknowingly. Ordinary people fear extraordinary people, but wish they were extraordinary too. But what if one day you were given the chance to be extraordinary?
1. Prologue

The year was 1457, it was early morning in Japan, the sun rose from behind the mountains bathing everything in a golden light and turning the sky pink. A gentle breeze loosed the petals of the cherry tree and the gently fell like a candy rain, several landed in the hair of a samurai standing under the tree. He was wearing dark blue robes and traditional sandals with his katana in it's sheath strapped to his back. He looked just like any samurai would, with deep brown eyes and long black hair tied back in the traditional style. But this samurai was different, he was an immortal being, the spirit or guardian of the country of Japan which he had named after himself. He looked human enough but he radiated power, his citizens called him _Nihon-san_ (Mr Japan) but he preferred to go by the name Kiku Honda. Kiku was watching a certain cherry blossom on the tree, it hadn't bloomed yet but it was much bigger than any other blossom on the tree. He knew what it meant, and he didn't like it. The flower opened revealing a tiny baby girl with eyes and hair just like his, he lifted her out of the blossom and brushed the pollen out of her hair. Kiku turned and saw a child walking up the hill to meet him, her long hair of a thousand colors trailed behind her like a veil and her kaleidoscope eyes looked like they held all the wisdom of the world. "Gaia," Kiku said, "how could you have let this happen?" "You seemed lonely, so I gave you a sister." Said Gaia, "I thought you'd be happy." "But there aren't any others like her!" Kiku shouted back, "why was she born? none like her have ever existed before!" Gaia smiled, "then she'll be the first." Kiku still wasn't convinced, "beings like her aren't supposed to exist, or else they would have been around a long time ago." Gaia cocked her head to one side and raised one eyebrow, "why aren't you happy to have her? you said just yesterday that you were lonely. But there's no turning back, if you killed her, then those people living by the coast wouldn't succeed in completing their village, it would cause a huge food problem." Kiku looked down at the girl in his arms as she gently tugged on the end of his ponytail, after a long pause he said; "all right, I'll keep her. But under one condition, that she will never know that she's not human, so she can live like a normal girl, it's to keep her safe." "Very well," said Gaia, "her name will be Edo, the estuary."


	2. Chapter One: Honda

There are over eighty billion ordinary people on the earth living ordinary lives. The go to ordinary schools or have ordinary jobs, live in ordinary houses with ordinary families and have ordinary friends. There are also extraordinary people who live among the ordinary ones. We have passed them on the street almost every day of our lives unknowingly. They hide among the ordinary people, pretending to lead ordinary lives. Ordinary people fear extraordinary people, but at the same time wish they were extraordinary too. But what if one day you were given the chance to be extraordinary?

I am Tomoko Namikawa, my parents are Japanese immigrants and I am fluent in both languages. I am 15 years old and go to a highschool in eastern North Carolina, I have a little brother named Kaito, a fat white cat named Mochi, and a red goldfish named Fujimoto. After school I have kendo or karate classes every other day. Sounds normal, right? And for a while it was, but everything changed when the fire nation attack- I mean, when the war started. Of course, things change because of war anyway, but I doubt this has ever happened to anyone. This is the story of how I was roughly dragged into a new life, and had to take part in deciding the fate of the world. I know, it sounds like a pretty heavy story, and it is. But don't worry, it's also a very fun story. Along the way, I picked up the weirdest and most wonderful group of friends in the world, one of them in particular I will never forget. We faced some challenges, made some sacrifices, and thought that our efforts were hopeless, but most of us made it to the end. I will begin the story a few years back on the day my new life started, the proper way to begin a story is at the beginning, and when you get to the end, stop.

Friday morning, 7:00 AM, my alarm clock blared and I brought my fist down on top of it to silence the ringing. I slowly crawled out of my nest of blankets like a dragon emerging from its cave, I'm not a morning person. Grabbing my small blanket and draping it over my shoulders, I slid my feet into slippers shaped like pandas and went to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Ohayo gozaimasu Okasan (good morning mom)."

"Ohayo gozaimasu Tomoko."

The kettle boiled and whistled and I poured the water into two porcelain cups with green tea powder, one for me, and one for my mom. Later, Kaito came to the kitchen, with his dragon pajamas and his black hair in a rat's nest.

"Ohayo gozaimasu Oneesan."

Kaito loved dragons, so much that he wanted dragon everything. A dragon schoolbag, dragon shoes, dragon bedsheets, stuffed dragons, plastic dragons, etc. Kaito stood on his stool to get the fish food and fed Fujimoto, Mochi meowed at Kaito to feed him next. Now you're probably expecting a typical shoujo anime opening where the main character quickly puts on her school uniform, grabs her bag, and runs to school with a piece of toast in her mouth with cherry blossoms blowing everywhere. Well this isn't a shoujo anime, this is a light novel, and if it WERE an anime, it would be a shounen. First of all, my school doesn't have uniforms, I don't walk to school (Okasan drives me), I don't eat toast for breakfast (I have eggs), and I wasn't running late on that day anyway. Ahem, moving on. That day I wore black ripped up skinny jeans, a black camisole, brown leather boots with lots of zippers and buckles, and a green army jacket with black leather sleeves that matched my green schoolbag. I combed out my dark red hair and tied two mini pigtails, then put on Gyaru-style makeup. At 7:30 it was time to go, I slung my schoolbag over my shoulder, grabbed my laptop case, picked up my cup of tea from the kitchen, and walked outside to the car with Okasan.

Soon we pulled up at the big blue building, I jumped out of the car and ran to my first class, Pre-Algebra. Later, on my way to lunch, I ran into my best friend, Jasmine and her boyfriend, Den.

"Hi Tomoko!"

"Ohayo Jasmine-chan!"

"We were just on our way to the courtyard, wanna join us?"

"Hai, arigato! Did you see the new Kuroshitsuji episode last night?"

"I sure did, that plot twist was too much for me, poor Ciel didn't deserve that."

Den's friend Lukas greeted us in the courtyard, "hey guys! Guess what! I finally beat Ai in a Pokemon match!"

"Dude! That's awesome!"

Lukas and Den high-fived and my other friend, Jake looked up from a German book he was reading, "could you please keep it down? Danke."

Ai was watching Claire draw an intricate picture of a mermaid. Ai's parents are Japanese immigrants like mine and she is also fluent in both languages, we often have conversations in Japanese to confuse everyone else. "Konichiwa Tomoko-chan."

"Konichiwa Ai-chan."

"Ogenkidesuka? (How are you?)"

"Yoi, arigato (good, thanks) anata? (You?)"

"Akita (tired)."

"Konban watashinoie ni kimasuka? (Will you come over to my house this evening?)"

"Watashi wa dekimasen, watashi wa, kendō no ressun o motte iru (I can't, I have a kendo lesson)."

Claire looked up from her drawing, "I can't tell if you two are planning to take over the world or if you're discussing the weather." Ai laughed, "we were just conversing like normal people."

We spent the rest of lunch debating about what to do if we were stuck on a deserted island, specifically what we would eat. "There's always the fish," said Jake, "it _is_ an island after all." "But what if you can't catch any?" Jasmine asked. "Cannibalism!" Lukas shouted, "we drown the weakest person in their sleep, then rip out their organs and roast them!" "Suppose," said Claire, "that we didn't drown them properly and they woke up while we were eating their internal organs?" Den cut her off, "let's not go quite that far, islands usually have fruit, right?" "That's true," I added, "if we can't catch any fish, we can always gather fruit, or hunt the animals on the island." "Or a Chinatown!" Said Ai.

"A what?"

"A Chinatown! They're everywhere so we might find one on the island!"

"You're crazy."

"What if we were attacked?" Said Jasmine. Jake laughed, "who would attack us on a deserted island?" "They might get mad if we eat s'mores without chocolate and attack, you can't have s'mores without chocolate!" Said Jasmine, "they might attack us with ladles and wok pans! Then what would we do?"

"Then we would wave white flags and hope a something random appears to confuse the enemy." Said Den. Lukas scratched his head, "this doesn't make sense anymore, where do you get these ideas anyway?"

The last class was World History, I sat in my desk next to Jasmine and took notes on Mr. Rondo's lesson on ancient Japan. "Edo was a small fishing village on the coast. The name Edo literally means 'estuary' as it was right on the coast, it was the center of military government under the shoguns from 1603 to 1867. It was renamed Tokyo in 1868 and replaced Kyoto as the imperial capitol. Can anyone tell me where in Japan Tokyo is located?"

I raised my hand and Mr. Rondo pointed at me. "Yes, Tomoko."

"Tokyo is located on the southeast part of the island Honshu."

"That is correct. Thank you, Tomoko."

The bell rang to mark the end of class and everyone made a mad dash for the door. Being significantly shorter than everyone else, I got lost in the sea of students until Jasmine pulled me out. We weaved our way through the stormy sea until we were safe outside. "Sometimes I hate being short."

"You're only 15, you'll grow taller."

"Have you seen the heights of my parents? I'm still going to be short."

"Then you can be like Levi or Edward Elric. Don't complain! You're really cute!"

"Thanks. Are you available on Saturday?"

"Sure am! I'll call you!"

Okasan's car pulled up to the school and I waved goodbye to Jasmine

"Konichiwa Tomoko! How was your day?"

"Konichiwa Okasan, it was good, I got a hundred on the English test."

"That's wonderful!"

I climbed into the shotgun seat of Okasan's car with my ototou (little brother) Kaito in the backseat, and we started for home. I put in my earbuds and listened to my favorite song, Doki Doki Morning by Babymetal. The radio was playing the news, there was a lot of tension between Japan and America. It was saying that Japanese troops were moving east through Europe for some unknown reason. We started down a big hill and the traffic got bad. There were people at the bottom of the hill checking the cars, a car would stop, someone would check the car, then the car would drive away. I assumed it was alcohol checking since it was Friday but as we got closer, I noticed that the people were soldiers wearing crisp white uniforms and carrying guns, the American army didn't wear white. I rolled down the window so I could hear what they were saying and try to identify the language, it didn't take long for me to figure it out. They were speaking Japanese.

"Anata no kuruma no soto ni suteppu shite kudasai." (Please step out of your car)

No one moved

"Ima!" (Now!)

Our car was checked by a soldier that looked slightly younger than the rest, his long black bangs hid his face, though something about him radiated power. He brushed his bangs aside and looked at me with his dark brown eyes full of wonder. Those eyes were like two endless pools of dark chocolate that looked like they had seen everything, as old as the earth yet still so young, and familiar somehow. He looked so familiar but I couldn't figure out why.

Another soldier marched up to the car, he was taller than the first and wore a badge identifying him as a colonel. "Honda!" The smaller soldier flinched at the sound of his name, "Naze korera no hitobito wa jibun no kuruma ni mada aru?" (Why are they still in the car?) "Gomenasai." Honda said timidly, "Watashi wa-" "Kuruma no suteppuauto!" (Step out of the car) the colonel was talking to us this time.

"Mate!" (Wait) Said Honda.

"Nani?" (What?)

"Sono onnanoko!" (That girl!)

"Hai?" (Yes?)

"Kanojo wa watashi no imōto!" (She's my sister!)

I couldn't believe my ears. Was he saying I was his sister to try to save me? Why me? What made me so special? Was it the fact that I was also Japanese? My train of thought wrecked as I was roughly pulled from the car. "Iie! Watashi wa anata ga watashi o toru koto wa dekimasen!" (No! I won't let you take me!) "Okasan! Kaito-kun!" The colonel restrained me while more soldiers forced Okasan and Kaito from the car, then the car was driven away by another soldier, joining the train of other confiscated cars. My family was told to go home, as I watched their backs disappear I was stabbed through with a long blade from behind. I saw the point of the blade protruding from my chest, my vision went blurry and I felt my breath slowing down. This is it, this is how I die.


	3. Chapter Two: Tokyo

I ran through a dark alleyway with tall grey buildings on either side, as I ran farther the buildings seemed to get taller and curved inwards like giants looking down at me. The only audible sound was the repeating click of my boots on the bloodstained cobblestones echoing through the empty alley. A bright yellow crescent moon glowed overhead, but it looked like a face in profile. A big hollow eye stared at me as the moon smiled a wide grin like the Cheshire Cat showing long white teeth as blood dripped down it's lower lip. Suddenly I saw a light up ahead, a tiny red glow that flickered like a flame and was suspended in space. As I got closer I saw a girl standing next to the light, a small girl with green eyes and her tan hair in pigtails. She wore a red plaid skirt, white gloves, a long black coat, and was holding a huge black scythe. The girl looked at me with a slight smile, then the scythe shimmered and turned into a boy with white hair, red eyes, and sharp shark like teeth. The scythe boy bared his teeth in a grotesque grin and grabbed the flickering ball of light, then he tilted his head back, opened his mouth wider than I though was humanly possible revealing a long tung, and swallowed the light. "A sound soul," the girl said, "dwells within a sound mind, and a sound body." The scythe boy looked at me and cocked his head to one side, "she's the one, she has to be." The girl took my hand and pulled me forward, signaling that she wanted me to come with her. "Come Tomoko! The hour is upon us! We must flee!" And we ran, farther and farther into the darkness, the buildings got taller and taller until they disappeared altogether and we were running through a pitch black space. We slowed down and the scythe boy turned to me and said; "This is your stop Tomoko, hold on to your hat!" Then he shoved me forward. I expected to fall onto the cobblestones but instead I kept falling, farther and farther into the darkness. I gradually slowed down as I fell until it felt like I was falling through a thick sea of ink, then I landed with a splash in something cold and wet. I was laying flat on my back in a half flooded field with rain falling in my eyes, I sat up and shook wet bits of grass from my hair. Further up on the field was an army of men in blue coats facing a single man in a red coat, they were all armed with bayonets. A man in blue stepped forward aiming his bayonet at the man in red, and shouted over the roar of the wind and rain; "Hey Britain! All I want is my freedom!" The man in red had a look of shock and betrayal on his face, then he charged at the man in blue with his bayonet, "I won't allow it!" The man in blue blocked the blow with the butt of his gun leaving a long scratch in the wood, suddenly I heard the clanging and pounding of steel and someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and saw a boy about my height with long blonde hair and amber eyes, he was dressed in all black except for his white gloves and long red coat. The short boy offered me his hand, "come Tomoko, the hour is upon us!" The clanging sound grew louder and I saw someone in a huge suit of armor running toward us, his armor was decorated with spikes, one spike protruding from his forehead and a long white feather plume. "Brother!" He yelled, "they're coming!" The suit of armor scooped me up in his arms and kept running, the short boy close behind. We ran deeper and deeper into a forest and I heard a snarling and hissing behind us and the short boy and the armor stopped running. "Brother what are we going to do?" Said the armor as he put me down, "we have to fight back." The short boy took off his gloves and coat and I saw that his right arm was a mechanical prosthetic. "Stay behind me Tomoko!" The short boy clapped his hands together and a bright white light flashed, blinding me. My vision returned and everything was still bathed in light, a tall man in a tuxedo was standing over me offering his hand, he was wearing a long black cape with a red lining and a white mask. I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet, then a girl came down from the sky, her blue skirt and blonde pigtails billowing in the breeze. She was wearing a sailor fuku school uniform, long white gloves, tall red boots, and a golden tiara with a red stone. The sailor girl floated down from the sky and landed next to the masked man. "Is this Tomoko?" Asked the masked man, "yes," said the sailor girl, "she is the one, she has to be." The snarling and hissing sound came again, "they're coming!" The masked man shielded me with his cape and the sailor girl removed her tiara and it turned into a flat golden disk. "Moon tiara boomerang!" The sailor girl threw the disk in a flash of golden light. The light cleared and I was laying in a big bed with white sheets in an old Victorian style bedroom, I heard soft breathing and saw a petite boy sleeping next to me. He looked about twelve years old and his blue hair was spilled across his pillow like a stormy sea. "Young master." I looked up to see the source of the voice, a tall butler with pale skin, black hair, and red eyes was standing over the bed, he looked like a perched raven. "Young master it is time to wake up." The boy stirred and sat up, he opened his eyes and one was blue like his hair and the other was purple with a satanic star imprinted on it. "Young master it is time to wake up." The butler said again.

"Young master it is time to wake up."

"Wake up."

"Wake _up_!"

I gasped and opened my eyes, I was laying on a futon in a small room wearing a white cotton kimono with Honda kneeling next to me. "You're awake," he said, "how did you sleep?" I sat up and pinched the bridge of my nose, my head was spinning as I tried to comprehend the strange dream. I was the one? What did that mean? Who are " _they_ " and why are they after me? What is " _the hour_ "? And most importantly, why wasn't I dead? Didn't I just get stabbed? Or was that part of the dream too? Or is this the afterlife? These questions pinwheeled through my mind trying to form a complete picture. Honda offered me a cup of green tea, I took it with shaky hands. "You probably have a lot of questions," said Honda, "I should start by introducing myself, my name is Kiku Honda, I didn't catch your name though." "It's Tomoko." I said, "why did you say I was your sister? What made you want to save me so badly?"

"Because you _are_."

"Huh?"

"I'm your big brother."

"I-I don't…"

"I've been looking for you for a long time and I'm glad to have finally found you."

"T-thanks."

"Your clothes are over there if you want to change."

"Yeah… thanks…"

The clothes I was wearing yesterday were neatly folded on a chair with my jacket draped on the back, and my boots and school bag standing nearby, I took my clothes and changed behind a paper screen. I put on my black camisole with the lace fringe and straps and tucked it into my black ripped up skinny jeans. My brown leather boots with decorative straps and buckles were worn with adventure as was my favorite jacket, a tough green army jacket with a big hood and black leather sleeves, it matched my green school bag nicely. Kiku was sitting under a kotatsu waiting for me, "please sit down, I have a lot to explain, and help yourself to some onigiri." "Domo arigato" (thank you very much), I bowed and sat down across from him. "First of all," he said, "we aren't human." "Nani?" (what?) Bits of rice sprayed from my mouth as I expressed my confusion. "I'll show you." Kiku picked up a chopstick and threw it like a dart, it's sharpened tip impaled itself in my shoulder. "Ow! Kono yaro!" (bastard!) I gently pulled the chopstick out of my shoulder, "what was that for!" "Wait," said Kiku, "just watch." Slowly the pain in my shoulder subsided and I saw the wound close up leaving a tiny scar, "how…?" "That's why you're not dead right now," said Kiku, "regenerating powers are only part of it, the reason there is not a scar on your chest where the blade cut is because it was a human that did that to you. Only injuries caused by another one of us will leave a scar." "Who's us?"

"Nations."

"Nations you say? Like as in country?"

"Exactly."

"What does that mean?"

"I'll explain, do you like anime?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you know an anime called _Hetalia_?"

For that minute my heart stopped, "oh my god you don't mean-" my sentence was cut of as I choked on my onigiri. "I draw those comics," Kiku whacked me on the back to stop my choking, "under the pseudonym _Himaruya Hidekaz_ , though Kiku Honda isn't my real name either, my name is Japan and I am over two thousand years old."

"Then who am I? There isn't a country called Tomoko."

"You aren't exactly a country, capitol would be a better term for you. You are Tokyo, my capitol city with the largest population in the world. A nation's capitol is it's heart, so the two of us are connected, you are literally my heart."

Was this another dream? I couldn't believe my ears! But I had to believe it, I saw my shoulder heal right before my eyes in a number of seconds. The anime I loved was a true story drawn by Japan using a pseudonym to inform people that nations exist. And I was one of them too? "But what about my family? Okasan and Kaito-kun? Will they be ok?" "I don't know, I'm sorry, though we may be able to save them. " Japan finished his tea and stood up, "my boss ordered that we invade America, I'll need to teach you how to fight and I'll need to assemble the Enso so we can make plans." Enso is a kanji in the shape of a circle drawn with a single brushstroke, it symbolizes enlightenment, strength, elegance, and the universe. A symbol of unity and power, all is one and one is all. I figured Enso must be the name chosen for the side Japan was on, and since I'm part of Japan I must fight alongside him, though I wonder who else is part of Enso?

"You will find out who is part of Enso later."

Woah, how did he know I was thinking that?

"That is what you were thinking, yes?"

Did he just read my mind?

"Yes, I did. Every nation has a special ability, you just need to discover it. There are still some nations that have yet to discover their abilities."

"Can you tell me more about nations? Is there anything else I should know now?"

"There is something I should say, to prepare you, there are two sides to this coin. Remember that you are immortal, you can't die. _Ever_. Even if you tried. You will have to see the terror of war over and over again, and go against people who may have been your allies in the past. You will have to witness death and despair until you will want to die, every nation has tried to commit suicide at least once, even though they know it won't work, it's like a form of self harm for us. We were made mentally stronger than humans for a reason, if we were equal in that sense to humans, none of us would be sane enough to speak."

I stared at the single onigiri left on the plate, I wasn't hungry anymore. I felt like the titan Atlas who was sentenced to hold up the sky for eternity, I wasn't that happy about being a nation anymore. After a long pause Japan said, "Tokyo, can you promise me something?" I stopped staring at the onigiri to look at Japan. "Promise to always take my side, in return I will always take yours. Promise to fight alongside me and never stab me in the back, and help me whenever I'm in trouble. Promise me that and I will promise the same to you, even if the whole world hates you I will be on your side. Can you promise me this?" "I can," I said, "I will always be with you oneesan." Japan smiled and we linked pinkies to seal our promise.


	4. Chapter Three: Enso

The first member of Enso to arrive was a tall muscular German. He had blonde hair that was slicked back and gentle blue eyes like a kindly dragon, he nearly tripped over me as he came in. "Woah! Sorry fräulein I didn't see you."

"Don't worry about it that was my fault."

"Are you a new maid or something like that?"

"No, I'm Japan's sister, watashi no namae wa Tokyo, (my name is Tokyo) yoroshiku onegaishimasu. (It's nice to meet you)"

"Ich bin Deutschland, a pleasure. I didn't know Japan had a sister."

"Neither did I."

Germany joined Japan at a big table with short legs when someone else walked in. "Aiyah! Japan! Do you have any idea what time it is at my place?" He was a few inches shorter than Japan, the same height as me. His long dark hair was tied back in a ponytail with a tiny curl coming off it, and eyes like jasmine tea. "I'm very sorry China," Japan said, "but this meeting is urgent." China sighed and sat down on a cushion at the table, "then this had better be worth it!" China turned to me and said; "Nín hǎo (hello) I haven't seen you before, are you a new country?"

"My name is Tokyo."

"Hěn gāoxìng rènshí nǐ! (nice to meet you) I am China, your other big brother. If there's anything you don't know you can just ask me!"

"Domo arigato (thank you very much)"

The next Enso member was a tall Russian, he was so tall he almost hit his head on the doorframe. He had pale skin, silvery blonde hair, and innocent violet eyes. "Dobroye utro (good morning) everyone!" "Guten tag Russia you're right on time." Said Germany, Russia noticed me and said; "ah! Who's this? What's your name little sunflower?"

"I'm Tokyo, it's nice to meet you."

"You're Japan's little sister da?" I nodded, "Japan I didn't know you had such a cute little sister!" Japan looked at his watch and shuffled some papers, "It's time to start the meeting, my boss ordered us to-" BANG!

The paper screened door slid open with a crash and too boys rushed in, they were almost identical, if they weren't twins they had to be brothers. The first one was about five inches taller than me, he had auburn hair and honey-amber eyes, a single curly lock of hair stuck out on the left side of his head. The second one was two or three inches shorter than the other, his dark brown hair had a reddish tint and a curl that pointed to the right. He had an olive complexion and jade green eyes like a lion. The auburn-haired one was frantically making up excuses about why they were late, his thick Italian accent and the speed of his words made him difficult to understand. "I'm so sorry we're late! I'll do anything to make it up! Please don't kill me I have relatives in-" Japan held up his hand, "It's alright, we were just about to start, but next time please take your shoes off before entering." I closed the sliding door and the two latecomers left their shoes by the door. The auburn-haired one gave me a big hug and kissed both of my cheeks. "Ciao bella! My name is Italy Veneziano, I'm the northern half of the country. What's your name?"

"My name is Tokyo, I'm Japan's sister."

"Well Japan is lucky to have such a beautiful sister."

I felt my face get hot, I must have looked like a tomato. "Thanks," I said as Italy went to the table and sat next to Germany. The brown-haired one greeted me in a similar fashion, only he shook my hand instead of hugging me. "Piacere di conoscerti (nice to meet you), my name is Italy Romano, I'm the southern half of the country, we were separated at birth in case you were wondering." He went and sat down next to Italy, I took my place next to Japan and the meeting started.

"So as I was saying before," said Japan, "my boss ordered an attack on America, he has quite the powerful army so we should be prepared." "I see your boss hasn't gone crazy yet," Russia interrupted, "mine is a complete lunatic, he thinks everyone without blue eyes is evil and is killing people because of that." China sighed and rolled his eyes. "My boss made me take an army all the way to Europe and occupy France, I don't want to, I'm tired and the world is stupid." I raised my hand, "I have a question, what is the other side called and who are they?" "The other side is called Dominus," Germany explained,"it means lord in Latin, the members of Dominus are America, England, France, and Canada. There are only four of them but we can't underestimate their power." Japan unfolded a big map of the United States, there were markings on it in different colors symbolizing paths of attack. "So I was thinking we should attack from the east around this area."

"What about right here? This tiny little dot looks unprepared."

"No we can't do that, there's a military base there."

"The how about here? This city is far away from the military base."

"I need to help too," I said, "I can fight you know, I am quite skilled in Japanese martial arts." "That will come in handy but it won't be helpful with this kind of invasion," said Japan, "though I've noticed you have sharp eyesight. You can be a sniper, like Riza Hawkeye. I've never been a sniper so I won't be able to teach you, is there anyone here who can?" Italy raised his hand, "I was a sniper in World War II, I'd be happy to teach her!" After a slight pause Germany said; "so I was thinking I could have my troops attack from over here, and Russia should have his right h-" "Why should I have them right there?" Russia interrupted," "I'll be too vulnerable! I should move them over there." China cut in, "I think both of those ideas have no chance of working! We should arrange our troops in a formation like this!" He drew a curved shape on the map, but Japan shook his head. "No, anyone would be expecting a formation like that, we should overlap our attacks and all come from this area." Romano slammed his fist on the table, "are you kidding? We can't all come in from the same place! It's too predictable!" "And we should at least leave behind reinforcements in an out of the way place." Italy added, I twirled a lock of hair around my finger as the others argued about which would be the best strategy. China was pulling Russia's scarf, Russia was pushing China's face, Japan was pulling China's hair, Romano was strangling Italy, and Germany had his face on the desk. Finally I stood up and slammed my hands down on the map with a loud thump, everyone immediately stopped arguing, "everyone shut up! This meeting was to solve problems not create new ones!" Everyone stared, "that's usually my line," said Germany. I took a pen and drew formations on the map, "Russia will invade from here and leave reinforcements here, Germany since you have the biggest army you will split it in half and invade from here and here. America will probably run this way so Romano will wait here to intercept, to insure that America will run that way Japan will invade from here, and Italy your army will be more reinforcements and you'll wait here." Everyone stared at me with eyes the size of the moon, finally Russia broke the silence. "That just might work, when did you get so good at strategizing?" "There's this board game I like to play with my friends called Axis and Allies," I said, "I always play as Japan and I win every time." "They made a board game of World War II?" Asked Germany. "It would appear so." Said Japan. It might have been just my imagination but I thought I saw Romano give me a thumbs up from across the table.

"COUNT OFF!"

"Uno!"

"Due!"

"San!"

"Yon!"

"Wǔ!"

"Shest'!"

"It's time to start our training! We'll start by running laps around the training yard."

Everyone groaned as Germany gave his order, China twisted a lock of his hair, "aiyah! Running again?" "When are we going to do fighting? When did you forget that we are trying to take over the world!" Said Russia, Germany sighed and put his face in his hand, "the reason we're running again is because none of you are any good at it, now let's get down to business!"

"-To defeat, the Huns! Did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons? You're the saddest bunch I ever met, but you can bet before we're through! Mister I'll make a man out of yo-"

"No singing during training!"

I. Hate. Running. I never run and I don't understand why people enjoy it. The only reason I would run is if something was chasing me or if there was free food. Did I mention how much I hate running? I ran at a slow pace at the back of the group behind Japan but in front of the Italy brothers. I heard the sound of boots hitting the ground and panting, no one else was enjoying this either. My heart was pounding like it wanted to explode out of my chest like a bloody comet, my arms and legs pumped and my pigtails bounced in a perpetual rhythm though the minute we started I immediately wanted it to end. But Germany said we'd have lunch right after running, this thought put a little more spring in my step. I wonder what's for lunch anyway? Maybe we'll have Kani Naruto rolls! It's my favorite kind of sushi, it's salmon, tuna, and yellowtail inside a hollowed out cucumber that is chopped up. Though what if I made it with crab? That might be good, or maybe even octopus? Lost in thought I tripped on a loose stone and fell flat on my face. Dazed I sat up and brushed the dirt out of my fringe when I saw Romano kneeling on the ground in front if me with a concerned look on his face, "bella are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?" He brushed some dirt off my cheek and helped me up, "your knee got pretty scraped up, there's a mark here on your face too. I'll take you back to get some bandages, can you walk?" "Thanks," I said, "but I think I'm ok." I tried to walk but a sharp pain shot up my leg, my ankle gave out and I fell forward again, Romano caught me before I hit the ground. My foot got caught under the rock which caused me to fall, spraining my ankle in the process. "Let's get out of here before the others come back around this way, we don't want to get trampled." Romano picked me up bridal-style and carried me across the yard and set me down in the grass, then he ran off to get supplies. He cleaned my knee and covered it with a large bandage, then put a smaller one on the scratch on my face. Lastly he took off my boot and wrapped my ankle. "I really appreciate this," I said, "but I would have been fine, it's only a scratch." Romano suddenly became very fascinated with my red painted toenails as the turned the same color, "d-don't think I'm doing this for you, i-it's just that this is war and all out soldiers have to be able to fight." He finished wrapping my ankle and said, "I should be getting back now," and ran. Being a nation I healed up perfectly in a number of minutes, I killed those minutes by reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner, then it was back to training. Italy called me over to find a gun the right size for me and then the lesson began.


	5. Chapter Three And A Half: She's A Rebel

_She's a rebel_

 _She's a saint_

 _She's salt of the earth_

 _And she's dangerous_

Tokyo took to shooting right away, my brother found a gun for her and taught her how to aim. She quickly got tired of shooting straw dummies so they moved on to clay pigeons. For a demonstration Veneziano took seven clay pigeons, threw them, and shot them all before they hit the ground. Bits of clay rained down from the sky and Tokyo picked up her gun. Veneziano threw a single clay pigeon and Tokyo pegged it from the sky in a tiny shower of fluorescent clay bits. My brother threw more and more clay pigeons in the air until Tokyo was able to shoot three out of the sky at once, then Veneziano threw five. Five fluorescent disks sailed through the air then disappeared with five gunshots from Tokyo's gun, she shook the bits of clay from her crimson hair and lifted her gun onto her shoulder, "I'm bored with shooting, this really isn't that different from the paintball matches I've played with my friends."

 _She's a rebel_

 _Vigilante_

 _Missing link on the brink_

 _Of destruction_

Later I overheard Japan and Tokyo talking. "So remind me again why you and America are butting heads?"

"We have different government systems and out bosses can't agree, it's tiring."

"Then there's also Russia's boss killing everyone who doesn't have blue eyes."

"And China occupying France."

"So this is basically WWII all over again?"

"I'm afraid so, Tokyo. The people will never learn, history will just keep repeating itself until the end of time."

"They say those who fail to learn history are forced to repeat it, but those of us who DO study history are doomed to stand by and watch the idiots who can't learn."

"You mentioned that you know martial arts, would you like to practice kendo with me?"

"Sure."

They changed into practice robes and fought a few practice duels with bamboo swords. I realized that with so many problems, our little war could turn into WWIII. Which made me even more reluctant to fight but there really isn't anything that can be done. Nations obey their bosses, that's just how it works.

 _From Chicago to Toronto_

 _She's the one that they_

 _Call old whatsername_

"You hold the grenade like this, then you pull the pin and throw!" Germany yanked the pin out with his teeth and threw the grenade which exploded on contact. "Stand far enough away so you're safe, but close enough so that you get to see the other guy explode. Italy make sure you throw the grenade this time and not the pin!" Veneziano and Tokyo giggled at that comment while Japan threw a grenade just like how Germany demonstrated. I don't know why I was watching that potato bastard teach grenade-throwing anyway. I was supposed to be doing target practice with throwing knives but I guess I got bored, and I was willing to bet that Tokyo would mess this up. She's probably throw the pin instead of the grenade, or accidentally blow something up, stupid things like that. Why did I care what she did anyway? Despite being Japan's sister she had a big head, and was obviously showing off when she was shooting clay pigeons. Probably because of the fact that she was the only girl, girls like her are always trying to make themselves seem so much better than boys. That makes me wonder why I even wanted to help her before. But I have to admit that she is beautiful, she looks just like her brother. The same big deep brown eyes that look like they hold all the secrets of the world, the same tiny nose and mouth, the same narrow shoulders, and the same pale complexion with a slight blush. Her hair had been the same black as Japan before she had dyed it, Japanese girls like dyeing their hair more western colors. Now her hair was red, a deep ruby red that matched her fiery but mysterious personality. I couldn't help but notice how her mini pigtails swayed with her movement and bounced when she ran, I wanted to stroke them, they looked as soft as silk. Tokyo pulled the pin of a grenade with her teeth and threw it with one graceful movement, she turned and slowly walked away from the explosion like a hero in an action movie with a slight breeze blowing through her hair. That damn showoff…

She's the symbol

of resistance

and she's holding on my

heart like a hand grenade

"Konichiwa Romano-san."

Tokyo creeped up behind me like a ninja and tapped me on the shoulder, I screamed and jumped about a foot in the air. "What the hell Tokyo you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Gomenasai," she said bowing slightly, "I didn't mean to be so quiet, I was wondering if do some target practice here."

"Yeah… sure."

Yep, defiantly Japan's sister, that girl was like a ninja! She brandished three kunai (Japanese throwing knives) in each hand in the gaps between her fingers then yelled and flung them at the target, right hand first, then left hand. The kunai embedded themselves into the wooden target in a circle shape outlining the red circle in the center.

"That's pretty good, but I bet I can do better!"

I held the tip of my knife with my thumb and index finger then threw it at the target, it flew through the air with a whoosh sound and penetrated the center of the target. I stood a little taller and held my head high as I looked at Tokyo, challenging her. She grinned and held her hands down by her side, I had a feeling she knew I had won, she was just standing there letting her arms hang down by her sides, when suddenly. Bam! Bam! With two lightning movements two throwing stars zipped through the air and hit the center of the target, they must have been hidden in her sleeves. She threw more and more throwing stars until they made a perfect circle shape outlining the circle of kunai. Tokyo strutted back to where I was standing and put her hands on her hips, she was obviously up for a challenge, so a challenge I would give her. Sneaky Japanese with their fancy concealed weapons that defied physics…

I held a knife in each hand, gripping their points tightly. Then I turned my back on the target and threw the two knives over my shoulder, they knives hit their mark and sank deep into the wood, surely Tokyo couldn't do anything like THAT. But again I was wrong, with two sharpened chopsticks she mimicked my movements and hit the target with her back turned. Ok, so I didn't expect the chopsticks but I still had some tricks left. I threw a knife and it hit the center of the target, then I threw a second knife which embedded itself deep in the handle of the first knife. I kept throwing more and more knives until there was a long string of knives sticking out from the center of the target. But again, Tokyo beat me. In two swift movements she threw a sharpened chopstick at the target, the a second chopstick hit the back of the first one splitting it in half right down the middle. How in the world does she move so fast? Probably studied ninjutsu. She threw more and more chopsticks, each one splitting the last, until I had to admit defeat. I gaped at her in disbelief as her tiny pink rosebud lips curved into an innocent smile and her wide eyes sparkled. I couldn't believe this! This tiny little girl didn't look much older than twelve and she pulled some crazy ninja stuff on me! I may have underestimated her, but at least she was an ally, her skills would be useful against Dominus. I watched her ruby pigtails bounce as she ran over to where China was teaching healing.

 _Is she dreaming_

 _what I'm thinking?_

 _Is she the mother of all bombs_

 _gonna detonate?_

 _Is she trouble_

 _like I'm trouble?_

 _make it a double_

 _twist of fate_

 _or a melody_

 _"Tenchi no hajimari, takusan no bujin ga. Innochi wo kasanete, rekushi sumuida aru…"_

Tokyo was softly singing to herself while grinding herbs in China's healing lesson, Veneziano was sitting next to her also grinding herbs. How like him, I thought. Veneziano isn't the bravest or the best at fighting, but he'll probably make a great healer, it's in his nature. He mixed the herbs with hot water and presented it to China who nodded in approval. Tokyo poured hot water into her herb mixture and fanned it off with a red paper fan, then also presented it to China. Veneziano reached over and gently stroked one of Tokyo's pigtails, she didn't seem no notice or care and kept singing as she looked for the right herb. _"Choukou no hotori, ichi wa kago no hato. Banri no shiro ni wa, hi wa mata noboru aru."_

I hate to say this and I hate that it happened but I became jealous that Veneziano got to touch her hair, he was stroking her like a cat and she just kept singing and practicing different herb mixtures. Feeling like a stalker, I hid in a nearby bush to watch and make sure Veneziano didn't try anything else. Tokyo probably liked him better than me, everyone always does, even Grandpa Rome liked him the best. But why did I care so much what she thought anyway? I only just met her today and I haven't even really talked to her. Maybe because she was new and different, I've never heard of a living capitol city. Or maybe it was because she was the only girl I'd seen for a long time, the only girl any of us had seen for a long time. China moved on from herbs and began teaching how to remove a bullet, while Tokyo's attention was elsewhere, I noticed Veneziano scoot closer to her until there was about an inch of space between them. I left before the end of the lesson, why should I care what they do? But I have to admit she has a really nice voice. Soft and light and airy, like cherry blossoms carried by a slight breeze, ethereal and mysterious like a siren or a nymph… Stop that Romano, this is the girl who beat you in knife throwing and has been showing off since she got here. She isn't worth your time, and she probably likes your brother better anyway.

 _She sings the revolution_

 _the dawning of our lives_

 _she brings this liberation_

 _that I just can't define_

 _nothing comes to mind_

 _She's a rebel_

 _She's a saint_

 _She's salt of the earth_

 _And she's dangerous_

 _She's a rebel_

 _Vigilante_

 _Missing link on the brink_

 _Of destruction_

Close combat practice was next. Japan wore a black gi and China wore a red kung fu uniform. As the two Asian nations sparred, they seemed to stay in the air for longer than they should, like in anime or old martial arts movies. The next sparring match was between Germany and Russia, after they were finished, the only ones left to practice were me, Veneziano, and Tokyo. Veneziano backed away making it obvious that he didn't want to spar, so that left me and Tokyo. Wearing a white gi, she assumed a battle stance. This was going to be easy, I took my stance in front of her, "alright Tokyo I'll spar with you, but since you're a girl I'll go easy on y-" Before I could finish my sentence, her foot came up and nailed me in the stomach, the look on her face told me that she was really angry at my comment. I threw punches at her face but she weaved around them like lightning, "shuto-uchi! (knifehand strike!)" With a hand like a knife, she struck the side of my face in the infamous karate chop, while I was stunned she grabbed my shoulder and spun me around, delivering a blow to my collarbone. I wouldn't let a little girl beat me, I elbowed her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Then I pinned her arms down and struck her chest over and over with my knee. "Cogen-geri! (groin kick!)" I can't believe I forgot to restrain her legs, and I totally paid the price for it, Tokyo won the match. Germany declared the practice over for today and we all went off for some last minute practice on other things. Remind me to never spar with Tokyo again, unless I happened to be wearing a full suit of armor. And never let her and Hungary meet.

 _She's a rebel_

 _She's a saint_

 _She's salt of the earth_

 _And she's dangerous_


	6. Chapter Four: The First Battle

Japan and I sat on the grass drinking green tea and watching Italy and Germany run laps around the track. Germany was running at a fast but steady pace and Italy was far behind, struggling to keep up, and breathing heavily. Germany shouted back at him, "Italy that pace is never going to cut it! You can't have lunch until you've finished your laps!" Italy suddenly sped up and passed Germany at twice the speed he had been running before, then he accelerated dramatically and disappeared into the distance, "BRITAIN IS COMING TO GET ME!" Germany soon passed the place where we were sitting, "Italy! You need to learn how to run this fast when you're not in retreat!" I remembered when I had watched Axis Powers Hetalia when it first came out, there was a scene very much like this one, I giggled at the memory. "So it was proven true, that Italian tanks can advance thirty kilometers per week." Japan said, turning to me. "But they can retreat thirty kilometers per day when they see the British coming." Unfortunately my mouth was full of tea as he was saying this, so I had to turn away as I laughed so the tea wouldn't end up all over him. There was this one time in seventh grade when I was talking to my friend Jasmine in the locker room at the end of the day. I was drinking tea as she was saying something really funny, I don't even remember what she said now but it was so funny she nearly killed me. I had just enough time to run to the sink to spit out my tea so it didn't go everywhere, she's really good at making me laugh. Another time at a sleepover we were sitting on Jasmine's bed talking about what different characters would do in various situations and she said something about Eren Jaeger in a Walmart that left me rolling around on her bed choking and flapping my arms like a deranged walrus. Until I fell off the bed onto my face, squirming and making inhuman noises like a beached whale, that makes me wonder how she's doing now. We saw Germany walking back along the track with Italy slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, he was so nonchalant about the whole situation I got the idea that this happens every day. I bet weirder things happen every day for these people, there's a good reason Hetalia was one of the weirdest animes out there.

"Tokyo, you didn't tell me you were so good at throwing shuriken and kunai, you even used sharpened chopsticks."

"Arigato!"

"What made you decide to challenge Romano?"

"I don't know, I mean, he was right there and practicing throwing sharp dangerous things so yeah."

"And the sparring match?"

"Well that one was kind of decided for me, I didn't have much of a choice."

"Ah, you do have a point."

Japan smiled like he knew something I didn't, and he probably did. He could hear everything that everyone was thinking, he probably knew more about us than we knew about ourselves. Japan had said all nations have special abilities and some haven't been discovered yet, that made me wonder what they were and what mine would be.

"Oniichan? (big brother?)"

"Hai, imōto? (Yes little sister?)"

"Can you tell me about some of the nations' abilities?"

"Of course I can, first I have to tell you about the abilities of Dominus so you will know what to expect. America has the abilities of your typical comic book hero, this includes super strength, speed, and agility. France can disappear into thin air and reappear wherever he likes, he can also stay gone for as long as he likes, existing as a wisp on a parallel dimension."

"I think I remember these powers referenced in the anime, America displayed these powers in the battle at the end of Paint It White. And France's power was briefly seen in that one episode of The Beautiful World when he met the human girl Lisa."

"You are correct, Canada's power was also referenced. He is able to slowly fade into a state of nonexistence, his presence can still be detected, but only slightly. England will be the biggest threat of all, he is a master of sorcery and witchcraft. His family is famous for powerful magic, black magic is his speciality, how do you think he managed to literally rule the world at one point? A very powerful nation indeed."

"What about Enso?"

"China can bend the earth to his will. Russia has the power of the White Flame."

"The White Flame? What does that mean?"

"You'll find out, Germany can talk to and control mechanics. A very useful power."

"What's Italy's power?"

"We don't know, he hasn't discovered it yet, Romano discovered his power just a few days ago. But he only got to try it for a few minutes before his violin was taken away."

"And why was that?"

"His boss thought that his power was too dangerous, and took Romano's violin away. We don't use our powers much anyway, our bosses prevent it."

I looked down into my cup and swirled the leaves around with the remaining drops of tea. I now had mixed feelings about discovering my power, what if I had a really awesome power but my boss wouldn't let me use it? Nations must have powers for a reason, what would be the point? Japan wasn't joking when he said being a Nation, err… Capitol, was hard. That was probably why I had no idea I was Tokyo until this morning, but I liked it, I was really living every fangirl's dream. My favorite characters turned out to be real and I am now one of them, reliving the moments in the series. Just yesterday I was Tomoko Namikawa, just a normal girl who went to a small highschool and took martial arts classes every other day. Just short nerdy Tomoko who hung out with her friends after school and on weekends, who had parents and a little brother named Kaito. Then everything changed, I was suddenly a new person, with a new and dangerous life. Now I had two older brothers, and probably lots of other older siblings I have yet to meet, and some new friends too, it's crazy how much can happen in just one day. Though I wondered how my friends were doing, Jasmine and her boyfriend, Den, Den's friend, Lukas. My other Japanese friend, Ai, Claire who loved to draw, and Jake who was studying German. What would they be thinking when I stop showing up at school? And my family, I hoped they were safe. Me and Ai's families would be in danger since we're Japanese, and Japan and America are currently enemies. My dad works in a cubicle, my mom stays at home and is a really good cook, and my little brother Kaito loves dragons and Pokemon. We also have a fat white cat named Mochi and a red goldfish named Fujimoto. Hopefully during the invasion I can sneak away and save my family and friends, this is not a safe time for Japanese in America. Though I feel that the invasion will be successful, the Enso are very skilled fighters, and with their mysterious powers we are sure to win. That still made me wonder about Romano's power, what kind of power do you get from a violin? "Where is Romano anyway?" I asked. "He's probably off sulking somewhere," said Japan, "I think his pride was hurt more than his vital regions. His temper is shorter than he is, you'll see him later."

Sure enough, Romano was back at the house with everyone else after training. Japan gathered everyone at the table again, "tomorrow we will invade America, you will have to stay here for tonight. I have enough extra futons for everyone to sleep, but first there are some things we need to go over." Japan took a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it, "I have included salt in your equipment for protection against England's magic, the trenches are well disguised and several feet deeper for protection against France and Canada, and the tanks have extra layers of steel for protection against America's super human strength. That is all, domoarigato gozaimasu (thank you very much)." Italy raised his hand, "Japan, can I make dinner? I promise to clean up your kitchen!"

"Hai, Italy-kun."

"Yay!

Italy made the best pasta I'd ever tasted, even the smell coming from the kitchen was enough to make me hungry. After dinner, we set up the futons. Just when I was getting mine out of the closet, my cell phone started ringing from my schoolbag, I dropped my futon to go answer it.

"Moshimoshi?"

"Tomoko, it's me."

"Okasan?!"

"Hai, I wanted to make sure you're ok."

"I'm ok, but what about you? It's a dangerous time for Japanese in America."

"Don't worry about me, we'll be ok. I have some explaining to do, but I think you've figured some of it out already."

"About what?"

"About your Oniichan."

"You mean… you know about Kiku?"

"Hai, he wanted to keep you safe, so he gave you to me and I gave you a normal human life. Though I knew you would find out you weren't human sometime, I just never thought it would be a time like this."

"We're invading America tomorrow, I thought I should warn you. So you can get a head start and escape."

"Domo arigato, Tomoko. I'll escape tonight, be careful out there."

"I will, daisuki Okasan. (I love you mom)"

"Daisuki Tomoko."

I put the phone back into my bag, Okasan had known the whole time? How did Japan choose her? What did he want to protect me from? Why weren't there any other living capitols? Was I even supposed to exist? I set up my futon on the floor and thought about these questions. It was a depressing thought that I probably wasn't supposed to exist, that probably meant that I was going to die horribly, or slowly fade into nothingness. I quickly put that thought out of my mind. I was so wrapped up in thought that I didn't notice Italy sit down next to me and tap me on the shoulder. I screamed and fell over backwards, "AHHHHH! NO KASHIMA REIKO I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOUR LEGS ARE- oh hi Italy."

"Ehehe, sorry Tokyo, I didn't mean to scare you. Can I put my futon next to yours?"

"I guess, if you want."

"Grazie!"

He plopped the rolled-up futon right next to mine and unrolled it. "Ve, this is just like a sleepover! We can tell ghost stories, and play games, and watch movies, an-"

"Italy, you're not taking this seriously." Germany interrupted, "we're going to invade America tomorrow, this isn't the time for fooling around!" Italy stood up, "right, sorry Germany. And Tokyo, who is this Kashima Reiko you mentioned before?"

"She's an onryō, a Japanese ghost, I could tell the story later tonight."

"Yay! I love ghost stories! Maybe I can tell the story of The Strix!

We set up a nest of pillows and blankets, turned off the lights, and sat in a circle. I turned on a flashlight and held it under my face to tell the story of Kasima Reiko.

"Once there was a beautiful girl, and one day a bunch of men broke into her house and beat her."

"Why did they do that?" Russia interrupted.

"I don't know, that's just how the story goes. She called out for help but no one came, and she tried to escape by dragging her broken body across the train tracks. But a train came by and sliced her in half at the waist, killing her. And now she wanders around looking for her legs, dragging her severed body behind her. After you hear the story of Kashima Reiko, she will appear to you in exactly one month."

"What?!" Exclaimed China, "why do I have to die because of stupid Japan and scary story?"

"I wasn't finished yet, when she appears she will ask 'where are my legs?' And if she doesn't like your answer, she'll rip your legs off and kill you."

There was a long and rather awkward pause, Romano finally spoke. "Great, now we're all going to die, thanks a lot, Tokyo."

Japan spoke next, "it's only an urban legend! Kashima Reiko isn't real!"

"We don't have time to be worrying about onryōs anyway." Said Germany. "We must focus on the problem at hand, we're going to invade America tomorrow!"

There was another rather long and awkward pause and Italy spoke. "Can I tell my story now?"

"Fine, but make it quick."

Italy told a story about a bird called a Strix with red wings, a long golden beak, four black legs, and yellow eyes. The Strix's long golden beak was for drinking human blood, and sometimes people were turned into Strixes as punishment. After that, we were deciding on what movie to watch, Russia made the first suggestion. "How about one of Japan's movies? He makes really beautiful movies."

"My movies are beautiful too!"

"My movies are ok I guess."

"Your movies are weird, mine are much better!"

"There's this one that came out recently that I wanted to see, its a horror film based on a popular RPG game."

We agreed on that one, a new horror movie called Ao Oni. It was about a group of kids who go explore a haunted mansion where an oni (a Japanese demon) attacks and kills most of the characters. It still kept the RPG game feel and ended with the main character looking at a computer screen that said they had completed the game. After the movie, Italy suggested that we play a game. "This isn't a party you know." Said Romano. "We're only staying here tonight because of the invasion tomorrow." Japan smiled and stood up. "I think it's a good idea, having fun tonight will make us less nervous about the invasion." "I agree." Said China. "It's like a celebration to ensure success." Russia spoke next. "Aren't we supposed to do that after the battle? That's how it usually happens." "Then we can do both!" Said Italy. "It's settled then." As he spoke, I thought I saw Germany smile. Even if it was only slight, it was the first I'd seen him smile since I met him. "Does anyone have any suggestions for what game to play?"

"Chess?"

"That's a two person game."

"I have a deck of cards."

"How about spin the bottle?"

"Hell no! Nothing good ever comes out of that game!"

"Aww, why not?"

"I'm sure my Pokemon cards are around here somewhere..."

"Seven minutes in heaven?"

"Why do you keep suggesting these games?!"

"How about Russian Roulette?"

"No!"

"Please no!"

"How about park bench?"

"What's that?"

Park bench was a game where two people would sit on a bench or in two chairs and assume different characters. The object of the game was to make the other person so uncomfortable they'd leave, the winner of each round would play against the next person in line. The first two were Japan and Italy. "I should warn you." Said Italy. "I have narcolepsy, so I'm sorry if I randomly fall-" He exaggeratedly pretended to fall asleep on Japan, Japan shoved Italy off of him and left. Italy sat up. "I won!" Next it was my turn. I sat in a chair next to Italy and began softly singing while I rocked back and fourth. "Kagome kagome, nige rarenu yooni… (circle you circle you, please don't try to run from us) " Italy looked nervous and scooted farther away from me, I moved closer and continued singing. "Kagome kagome, nani site asobu no? (Circle you circle you, what game will we play?)" I slowly turned and looked at him and cocked my head to one side while smiling creepily, my voice getting louder. "Yoake no ban ni

nakama ni nareru ne! (Before the moon sets again, you can play with us until then!)" I got even closer and brushed a cold finger up the back of his neck. "Kagome kagome… (circle you circle you) " I got closer still and with my creepiest voice, whispered the last line of the song into his ear. "Ushiro no shoumen daare? (Who surrounds you everywhere?)" Italy pushed me away and walked away with his hands up. "Nope! You win! That's too creepy for me!" It was Romano's turn next. He picked up one of Japan's shinais (bamboo practice sword) and brandished it like a rapier, swishing it dramatically. "Romeo, the hate I bear thee can afford no better term than this,- thou art a villain!" I decided to play along with it and picked up another shinai. "Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee. Doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting: villain am I none; Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not." Romano stepped forward and pointed his shinai at my face. "Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries that thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw." I dropped my shinai and put my hands up. "I do protest, I never injured thee, but love thee better than thou canst devise, till thou shalt know the reason of my love: And so, good Capulet,—which name I tender as dearly as my own,—be satisfied." Then I ran to the space between us, in a different voice I spoke to Romano and to the space I was just standing. "O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! Alla stoccata carries it away." I pointed my shinai at him. "Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?"

"What wouldst thou have with me?"

"Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and as you shall use me hereafter, drybeat the rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pitcher by the ears? make haste, lest mine be about your ears ere it be out."

"I am for you."

"Come, sir, your passado."

We stage-fenced until he pretended to stab me and I exaggeratedly pretended to die. "I am hurt. A plague o' both your houses! I am sped. Is he gone, and hath nothing?" Romano won that round, he sat down in one of the chairs to wait for his next opponent, who happened to be Germany. As soon as Germany sat down in the other chair, Romano bolted out of his chair and walked away. Germany's next opponent was China. China sat cross-legged in his chair, taking a meditative pose. "Now I want you to breathe deeply." He said dramatically. "Feel your chakras a-"

"Bye."

China had won that round. His next opponent was Russia. Russia sat down in the chair next to China, for a while nothing happened. Then Russia started faintly glowing with a purplish light and making a whispery "kolkolkol" sound. The sound filled the room, bouncing off the walls, floor, and ceiling, wrapping around me and crawling into my ears. The purple glow got brighter and the temperature in the room dropped dramatically, a cold wind started blowing and a few snowflakes fell. "Russia! Don't do that in the house!" Said Japan. "Do you have any idea how long it takes to clean snow off the furniture!" Suddenly everything stopped as if Russia had flipped a switch. "Sorry." Russia had won that round, we decided the game was over after that and went to bed. "Oyasumi nasai."

"Oyasumi!"

"Wǎn'ān."

"Buonanotte! Watch out for Kashima Reiko!"

"Kashima Reiko isn't real!"

"-And the oni!"

"Onis aren't real either!"

"If any monsters come I will freeze them, da?"

"Gute nacht."

"Spokoynoy nochi!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

That night, I had another dream. I was playing in the yard of a traditional Japanese house, everything seemed bigger than usual, I checked my reflection in the koi pond. A little girl stared back at me, my black hair was cut short, just covering my ears. I wore a pink kimono patterned with cherry blossoms and wooden sandals, this must be a memory from my past, I didn't look much older than four. "Tomoko!" A familiar voice called me from the house. "Tomoko! Time to come inside!" Japan was waiting for me at the back door of the house, I ran to him and tried to climb up onto the porch. My tiny four-year-old body wiggled and squirmed as I struggled to climb over the edge, Japan laughed and lifted me up. "We have a visitor tonight." Said Japan, as I was taking off my sandals. "My brother, Wang Yao, came to visit us from China."

"You have an Oniichan in China? Where's that?"

"China is a great big country all the way across the sea, very far away."

"How big is China?"

"Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis big."

He spread his hands apart to show how big China was. "Much bigger than Japan, with dragons living in the rivers and clouds." That caught my attention. "Dragons?"

"Dragons! With big horns like this!" He put his hands to his head and stuck his fingers up like horns. "And teeth like this!" He curled his fingers around his mouth to mimic sharp dragon teeth. "And claws like this!" He made claws with his hands. "Why do they have such big claws?" I asked. "For tickling little girls!" We played a game of chase around the house, I ran and hid behind a screen, shrieking and giggling all the way. Japan ran into the room and looked around for me, he pretended to have no idea where I was. He moved around the room with twisty dragon like movements, wiggling his dragon claw fingers. "Where are you, little girl? She must be around here somewhere…" He looked around in the closets and under furniture. "Nope, not in here, she's not in here either. She must not be hiding here." Thinking I had won, I giggled and peeked out from behind the screen. Japan noticed me and ran in my direction. "There you are! I found you!" Japan tickled under my arms and on my sides, I rolled around on the floor, trying to escape. Then he picked me up and spun me around, then carried me to the front room. Yao (China) arrived shortly after, we had dinner and afterward they began talking about something I didn't understand. Bored, I wandered off to find something to do. I ended up at the back door, outside, I saw another little girl. She looked about ten or eleven, she was barefoot and wore a simple white dress. Her hair of a thousand colours trailed behind her like a veil, and her kaleidoscope eyes stared at me in wonder. I put on my sandals and went outside to join her. "Onamae wa nandesuka? (what is your name?) Watashi no namae wa Tomoko desu. (My name is Tomoko)" The other girl smiled and walked over to meet me. "Watashi no namae wa Gaia desu. (My name is Gaia)"

"Do you want to play Ohajiki?"

"Sure!"

We played a game with small pebbles, taking turns flicking the pebbles to our side of the game space. Later it got dark and Japan and China came looking for me, they weren't happy when they saw where I had gone. "Tomoko! Come inside quickly!" I didn't want to, I wanted to finish my game. "Tomoko! Come here, now!" I flicked another pebble. "Tomoko!" Japan rushed over to where Gaia and I were playing, picked me up, and took me inside. Afterwards, he gave me a lecture. "Tomoko, don't ever do that again, I was worried about you! Something could have happened! Listen, you are never to play with that girl again, stay away from her."

"But why, Oniichan? She was nice."

"She is dangerous, you have to stay away from her. Wakarimashtaka? (do you understand?)"

"Hai, Oniichan. Watashi wa wakarimashta. (Yes, big brother. I understand.)"

But I didn't understand, what could be so bad about that girl? Sure she looked strange, but there was nothing strange about her. How could she be dangerous? I saw her a few times again after that. Sometimes I saw her through the trees, or her reflection in the pond, or shining through the clouds as a sunbeam.

An alarm clock blared, shattering the image of my dream. I had forgotten where I was and expected to wake up in my room and go to school, but instead I was laying on a futon in between Italy and Japan. "Ohayo gozaimasu, Tokyo." Said Japan. "Are you ready for your first battle?" That's right! We were going to invade America today. "I think so, what's for breakfast?"

"China is making steamed pork buns."

"Oishii! (delicious!)"

I got dressed and did my hair, then met everyone at the table. The pork buns were delicious, so warm and puffy and sweet that I felt like I was floating through pork bun clouds. After that, it was time to assemble our troops. At first, the Japanese army was reluctant to take orders from me, but Japan convinced them to listen. We told them our plan and took our places, I hid with my gun in a bush a few feet from another sniper, and waited for the attack to begin. The first gunshot broke the silence, followed by more gunshots, booming, rolling and clanking of tanks, hundreds of heavy boots hitting the ground, and screaming. Russia's army came into my line of vision and was soon intercepted by the American army. Through my scope, I picked out a soldier in the front line, and shot him. The other soldiers seemed panicked for a moment, then continued their march, moving closer together to fill the gap where the soldier once stood. I had just killed a man, how could I have done that? He probably had a family, and was defending his country to keep his family safe- stop that, Tokyo. You need to focus, you can't be distracted by your feelings. Eventually I got the hang of it, I had lost count of how many soldiers I had killed, I remember Riza Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist once said: "I like guns, because you can't feel the other person die." In that moment, I understood how she must have felt, and was glad of my position. But there was a downside to being a sniper, there's always a downside to everything. Yes it was a gun, yes I could kill from a long distance, yes I couldn't feel the other person die, but I could see everything in full detail from my scope. My target, my target dying, the reaction to my target dying, all of that. Suddenly, one soldier charged one of the tanks. With impossible speed and agility, he dodged shots and wove around obstacles, then he ripped the barrel off the tank's gun and threw it across the field. I was shocked at first, but then I looked closer. The soldier had blonde hair with a funny cowlick that stood straight up, blue eyes, and glasses. He was sturdy and athletic, built like a football player, this must be America. My attention was diverted to another scene, I saw Den carrying Jasmine like a princess, running for his life with Lukas close behind. There was Claire, clutching her sketchbook and running to hide behind a building, Jake helping Ai get her younger siblings to safety. There was the woman who jogged around the neighborhood, there was the man who had a dog walking business, there was the lady who taught ballet, and the guy who worked at the grocery store. The gun fell from my hands, these people hadn't done anything wrong, they didn't deserve this! A few Chinese soldiers cornered a group of children, I couldn't bear to see what they would do, but I couldn't tear my eyes away. Suddenly, they were blinded by a bright flash of light, a soldier from Dominus was trying to protect the children. He had wild spiky blonde hair, emerald green eyes, and huge bushy eyebrows. He wore a black cloak and carried an open book in one hand, and some herbs in the other. He chanted a spell and scattered some herbs, black shadowy apparitions appeared and chased the Chinese soldiers away. He ran after them, chanting another spell, then his body glowed with a green light and he put his hands on the ground. The ground cracked open and the Chinese soldiers fell down the chasm. Remembering the anime and what Japan had told me, I figured this must be England, I moved closer to investigate. Something moved by a nearby tree, looking closer I saw a semi-transparent soldier standing there. He looked similar to America, but his hair was longer, his skin was paler, and his eyes were violet, this must be Canada. Canada quickly moved to where another soldier was standing, this soldier had wavy shoulder length blonde hair and blue eyes. "There's a sniper hiding in that bush over there." Said Canada. "She isn't wearing a uniform so I don't know what side she's on- if she's on anyone's side. But she looked Japanese." The other soldier disappeared like dust blown away by the wind, I figured he must be France. Then I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, I turned and saw a disembodied hand that was quickly joined by what looked like tiny particles of dust swirling and forming an entire body. "I found you, belle. I'm afraid you'll have to come with me." On reflex, I curled my hand slightly and punched him in the face, making my fingers like a whip, then ran. As I ran, I heard someone crying, at this point I really didn't care what side I was on, I just wanted to save at least one person and get the heck out of here. On closer inspection, I found a girl in a Chinese uniform huddled under a bush. A tiny Chinese girl with pale skin and jasmine-tea eyes. Her hair was up in two buns and long black bangs covered her face. With quaking knees drawn in close to her body, she looked like a scared little panda. I approached her slowly. "Hello? Can I help you? My name's Tomoko, what's yours?" The girl looked up at me, her amber eyes filled with tears. "I'm Xiao Mei, are you an ally?"

"Yes, I'm Japanese. Is this your first battle too?"

"Yes, I didn't think it would be like this at all. They told me it would be fun, they made training seem like a game. But this isn't a game, this is murder."

Xiao Mei suddenly sat up with a jolt, her eyes widened and she looked behind us. "They're coming! Quick, run!" We ran deeper and deeper into the trees, then stopped to catch our breath in a cave in the bushes. "We're safe now." Said Xiao Mei. "They're heading in a different direction, they won't find is here." Because of the thick foliage we had run through, our hands and faces were covered in tiny scratches. I looked at my hands and watched the marks disappear, Xiao Mei stared at my hands in amazement. "You're… like me?"

"Nani? (what?)"

A long scratch on her cheek fades and disappeared, she held up her hand and all the scratches healed in just a few seconds. "You can heal very fast, like me. Can you feel the earth too?"

"Feel the earth? I don't think so."

That must have been how she knew someone was coming, which direction they were moving, and which direction we should run. Xiao Mei must be a nation, but she had no idea. Could she be a capitol like me? But Japan said I was the only one. Still, it was possible that I wasn't. What if she wasn't? Maybe she was a different creature entirely, anything was possible. She clutched at her side, I hadn't noticed that her jacket was covered in blood. "What happened?" I asked. "I got shot in the side several times." Said Xiao Mei. "Please don't send me back with the Chinese army, they'll make me kill people again. Take me with you, back to your family or something. I never had a family, maybe I can go back to Japan with you."

"I have two older brothers, one of them is very good at healing. I can try to help you with what he's taught me."

"Xièxiè. (Thank you)"

I opened my bag and brought out some herbs, a bandage, and a knife. "Just a warning, this is going to hurt. But you have to be still, it isn't easy to remove a bullet." I took off her jacket, lifted her shirt, and went to work. She cried out a few times during the process and I was afraid that someone would hear us, but for now we were safe. As I was tying the bandage around her abdomen, I heard a branch snap somewhere in the distance. Someone was coming. Xiao Mei's eyes snapped open and she sat up. "Someone is coming!" She was in no shape to run, so our only choice was to stay and fight, at least I still had my gun. Xiao Mei and I clung to each other in fear, closer and closer until our hearts beat like a single organ between us. Our attacker wasn't visible yet, I could hear their footsteps coming closer and closer, they would come through that grove of trees in front of us. I was just reaching for my gun when: "Tokyo? Is that you? What happened? We've been looking everywhere!" It was China. When he saw Xiao Mei his eyes widened in shock, the same look Japan gave me when he first saw me. "What… How… She's…" Xiao Mei stared at him in awe. "Do I know you?"

"No." Said China. "I've never seen you before, I had no idea… There isn't supposed to be…"

"What?"

"You're… Beijing… My… Capitol…"


	7. Chapter Five: Two Hetalians

"China has a sister?"

"Aww! She's so cute!"

"Another living capitol? How strange."

There were mixed feelings when China brought us back to HQ, they were glad I was safe, but confused about Beijing. Were there other living capitols? Or were we both doomed? How had no one known Beijing existed? So many questions floated around us, they filled the room and hung in the air over our heads like storm clouds about to burst and send a rain of questions down upon us. Japan called everything to order. "Everyone, the invasion was successful, but we only just won. We must analyze out mistakes so we can ensure that we don't make the same mistakes again. We have a lot of work to do but first I suggest that we treat out wounds." I looked around the room and noticed how beat up everyone was. Russia's arm was in a sling, Japan's shoulder was bound, Germany had a bandage covering half of his face, and Italy's knee was bound and he was leaning on Romano, there was also Beijing's bullet wound to take care of. Italy went to work on her. "So what happened?" He asked. "My troop was ambushed by a French troop." Beijing answered. "They shot me in the side several times, I was the only one to escape. Tokyo already removed the bullets." She lifted her striped sweater and undid her bandage for Italy to look at. Italy put his right hand on the bullet wound, his small slender hand produced a warm glow and the wound healed in a few seconds without leaving a scar. He looked from his hand to Beijing's abdomen in amazement. "My ability!" He exclaimed. "My ability is healing!" Seven heads turned in their direction and seven pairs of eyes widened with wonder. Germany smiled fondly at Italy, there was that smile again. It softened his entire face and seemed to glow with happiness, making his kindly dragon eyes sparkle. I got the feeling that Germany wasn't the stiff and stoic person that he seemed to be, but a kind and loving person. Italy stared at his hand in shock and disbelief that he had healed Beijing's wound with a single touch, then he smiled like the Cheshire Cat, looking very proud of himself. "Fratello! (Brother) Germany! Did you see that? My hand was glowing and she was healed!" As Italy babbled excitedly, I thought I saw Romano smile too. It was very slight, and he turned his head away as if he didn't want anyone to see that he had smiled. "That's cool, it would be a good idea to use some of that healing magic on yourself though."

"Oh, yeah!"

Italy undid his bandage and put his hand on his knee, the glow came again and his knee was healed. He bent and straightened his leg a few times, then went to work on the others while humming a bouncy tune.

China and I helped the others, Russia's arm was broken in several places and the bone had punctured the skin. It was an ugly wound and it made me nervous, I hummed to myself to calm down, still shaken from the battle. "What did you think of your first battle?" Russia asked. "Pretty different from your everyday life, huh?" I squinted my eyes and carefully threaded a curved needle. "Different, I guess you could describe it that way." I covered his arm with a cloth so I could focus on the area that needed stitches. "I saw the members of Dominus too, their powers are incredible." Russia flinched slightly when the needle bit his skin, he gripped his knee and said. "How did you find Beijing? Part of it must have been a lucky coincidence, and now you have a big sister!"

"It's a bit of a long story."

"I like long stories."

I knew I had to tell someone sometime, but I still felt like a coward. "I saw my friends in the chaos of the battle, I wanted to save them but they are on the enemy side. I saw Dominus trying to save the civilians rather than focus on destroying us. Enso was a war machine that showed no mercy, not even to innocent civilians, not even to children! We are also the ones who started the war, but for what reason? Is it really worth fighting for? It's defiantly not worth dying for. I killed people! They never did any harm to me, they were just trying to defend their country. How could I? I have no reason to kill anyone I never knew, anyone who never did any harm to me." I tied a knot in the final stitch and cut the thread as if to make my point. "I guess that's just how war works." Said Russia. "You get rid of all the enemies, and you win. It seems so simple but it gets so complicated."

"Then I don't like how war works! Even in war, if you kill another person, that still makes you a murderer."

There was a long silence, my head was bowed and I let my hair hang over my face like a veil as if to cover my regret. Russia finally broke the silence. "How did you find Beijing?"

"I ran away, I was scared and I ran. Can you believe that? I ran away and hid like a pathetic coward, Beijing had run too, and that's how I found her."

I looked up to see Russia's innocent violet eyes looking back at me with sympathy. "Don't worry, little sunflower. You aren't a coward, anyone would be scared in their first battle, you weren't prepared. The next one will be better, you'll see."

And I almost believed him, almost. I wanted to believe him, but from my experience with the first battle I knew it could only get worse. Japan called everyone to attention, we all gathered around the big table and Japan made his announcement. "Everyone, my boss was very pleased with today's successful attack, and he has given me a new order. Next he wants us to target a small town on the coast called Charleston. We will leave in two or three days and march through the state of North Carolina, cutting directly through Asheville. Rain is predicted so we won't leave until the weather allows us to, are there any questions?" China raised his hand. "Are you saying that we're going to walk the whole way there?"

"Yes." Said Japan. "That is what I just said, any other questions?" Beijing raised her hand. "Why Asheville in particular? Are they doing something we should be worried about?"

"No, that's just what my boss said to do, we are also to march through Greenville, Hendersonville… there's a list."

I anxiously drummed my fingers on the table, I didn't like the new order but at least we didn't have to march in the rain. The others didn't look very happy either, Romano glared at me with a look that could kill. "Will you stop that already? And I thought your voice was annoying." I smirked and hit the table harder with my fingers, making a louder noise. "What's that? I didn't hear you." I said, and increased the volume of my fingers. He sat up straighter and tilted his head back as if to say. "Oh yeah?" Then he began crack in his knuckles loudly, which I have to say was pretty annoying. I started making popping sounds with my lips and flicking my cheeks to make water drop noises, squeezing my lips together and blowing out my cheeks like a fish while continuing to drum my fingers. Romano then added another sound and began whistling with no particular tune while he cracked his knuckles. By this time, the other nations were noticing what was going on. Germany glared at us, China sighed and flicked his hair over his shoulder, Russia didn't seem to care, Italy stared with wide and confused eyes, Japan pretended not to notice and kept talking, and Beijing smirked at me like she knew something I didn't. I began humming loudly and Romano kicked me under the table. I kicked him right back, he kicked again, harder this time. We continued kicking each other until I reached across the table and poked his cheek, he reached across right back at me and poked between my eyes. I was going to poke him back but he grabbed my arm and yanked me over to his side, which caused me to do an accidental one-eighty degree flip over the table. I stood up and angrily marched towards him. "Alrighty then, Romano. I see how it's going to be." I said, and kicked him in the shins. He responded with a blow to my stomach and an angry; "Vaffanculo! (screw you!)" I ran over to my bag and pulled out a book. "Vaffanculo yourself, you stupid tomato-eater!" I brandished my book like a sword and ran after him, I threw the book at his face but missed. "What's the matter, shorty? Do you need a stool?"

"I'll kill you!"

I picked up the book and slashed at him again, Romano laughed and dodged the blow. "Looks like someone has a short temper."

"I am not short!"

"Yes you are."

As things got more violent, I noticed Beijing whisper something to China, they both laughed at whatever she had said. I tripped over a pillow and decided to take advantage of the fact that I was on the ground. I reached up with my book and smacked Romano on the backs of his knees and he crumpled to the ground. "Call me short one more time and I'll smack you with this book so hard I'll be able to read The Maze Runner through your ugly face!"

"I'd like to see you try, you ugly little-!"

"THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Germany pulled me and Romano apart and held us so we couldn't run away or continue fighting and held us with an iron grip in his strong hands. "I don't get why you two seem to hate each other so much when you just met yesterday!" Said Germany. Romano struggled to escape, I had noticed he seemed to have some kind of grudge against Germany for some reason. "Let go of me, potato freak!" I bowed and apologized. "Gomenasai, I got a little carried away, it won't happen again."

"You two are not to disrupt any meeting, training, battle, meal, night, or anything, or there will be serious consequences! Do you understand?" Romano and I nervously answered in unison. "Yes! Sorry! It won't happen again!" And returned to our seats.

The meeting continued on, about what formations to attack in, what time to attack, and which weapons to use. I was really out if it until Beijing poked me to get my attention. "Tokyo, did you hear the question? Do you agree that we should use poison gas?" That was when I snapped. "Poison gas? Why would you think of using poison gas?"

"Well." Said China. "It is an affective way of killing a large amount of people in a short amount of time."

"That's terrible!" I exclaimed. "Those people did nothing wrong! They're just defending themselves!"

"Tokyo, that's how war w-"

"Then I don't like how war works! I didn't want to be part of a war! I only wanted my family to be safe!" Italy tugged on the hem of my green jacket to get me to sit down and be quiet, I slapped his hand away and kept talking. "I never asked to be a nation, I never asked for an older brother, and I never agreed to kill people because of different government ideas or because you don't like their eye colour! I refuse to be part of something so terrible and evil! And I'm not even going to try to stop you, you can have your stupid war, and I hope you're happy! Because I'm leaving! I'm going to forget I ever met you freaks and I'm going home! Good bye, and good riddance!" With that I slammed my fist on the table, grabbed my bag, pulled on my hood, and stormed out the door. "Imōto! Tomare! (Little sister! Stop!)" Japan called after me. "Sunflower, wait!" Said Russia. "Good riddance to you too!" Romano shouted. "Tokyo! Please don't leave us!" Said Italy. "Tokyo, wait! You can't quit after only one battle!" Said Germany. I put in my earbuds and kept walking, the others kept calling me to come back and try again but I kept walking and didn't look back.

I don't remember too much of what happened after that, there was just walking, about five minutes in it started pouring rain. I hugged the trees on the roadsides to keep dry, I had set my music to play my favourite Green Day songs. "I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known…"

"How appropriate." I thought, and humorlessly laughed. "My shadow is the only one that walks beside me, my shallow heart is the only thing that's beating…" More walking, I even got on a bus at one point. More walking… I almost bumped into a big sign that read "Welcome To Asheville" in white capitol letters. More walking. I came to a shopping center and went into a Barens And Nobel, I was greeted by the smell of paper and a thousand adventures and the sound of rustling pages. I smiled slightly and took off my hood, this was where I belonged, not on a battlefield. Wandering through a vast forest of tall trees, occasionally plucking a fruit and devouring it. Not crawling through the thick brush on the bloodstained field as slow lumbering monsters groaned as they rolled over the ground and spat fire and deadly silver imps zipped through the air stinging and biting everyone in their path. I grazed through the front of the store and spotted The Scorch Trials by James Dashner on the shelf. It was so tempting to pick up the book and start reading, but I hadn't finished the first book in the series yet. Suddenly a girl ran past me, nearly knocking me over. She had dark skin, chocolate coloured eyes, and long curly black hair that framed her round face like a puffy cloud. She ran over to meet another girl, excitedly waving a book in the air. The other girl had very pale skin, green eyes, and short fluffy tangerine hair framing her freckled heart shaped face. "Gwyn! Gwyn! I got the newest Hetalia World Stars book!" The dark girl showed the pale girl the volume of manga and lifted the colourful cover open, they dramatically hummed the Hetalia fanfare as the dark girl slowly lifted the cover. "Wow, Jade, Himaruya's art just keeps getting better and better!" Said the pale girl, whom I figured was Gwyn. "I know right?" Said the dark girl, whom I figured was Jade. "And look at this!" Jade flipped to another page in the book. "There's a new character, she's really cute. She's Japan's little sister and her name is Tokyo." I was in the new book? It was rude to eves drop but they were talking about me. "Sumimasen (excuse me)." I said to the girls. "Anata no manga o mimasuka? (Can I see your manga?)" They looked at me and smiled, I guess they hadn't understood me. I hadn't meant to speak Japanese to them, but I get nervous talking to new people. I was about to repeat myself in English when Gwyn said: "Hai, mimasu (yes, you can look.)" And handed me the book. I took the book and bowed. "Domoarigato gozaimasu (thank you very much.) I am very sorry, I had meant to ask you in English but I got nervous."

"It's ok." Said Jade. "I switch languages when I'm nervous too, but I speak both Japanese and Italian so it gets weird. My name is Jade and this is Gwyn, anata no namae wa nan desuka? (What is your name?)" I felt more comfortable around these girls now. "Watashi no namae wa Tomoko desu, yoroshiku onegaishimasu. (My name is Tomoko, nice to meet you.)"

"Yoroshiku, Tomoko-san. (Nice to meet you, Tomoko.)" Said Gwyn. "What brings you here? It's a dangerous time for Japanese in America, something could happen to you."

"Well… don't tell anyone but I'm not supposed to be here. My Oniichan and I are in the Japanese army, that previous attack was my first battle."

"Really? Wow, what was it like?"

I really didn't want to rehash the battle, especially to someone who was supposed to be the enemy. But these girls didn't seem to care about what side I was on, they only wanted to know me for who I was and even spoke Japanese to me, the least I could do would be to make some conversation. "It was terrifying, and very loud. The tanks were so big and scary up close, and each gunshot seemed to rattle my skull. I saw my comrades die in terrible ways. I saw people getting bullets through their skulls, people screaming as they were shot to death, people getting blown apart by grenade blasts, and I… I… killed people." My voice cracked and I chocked on my words as I struggled to speak. "I-I don't want to k-kill people, I n-never wanted to h-hurt anyone. I-I just wanted to p-protect Oniichan and m-my friends…" I broke down, I turned away from Jade and Gwyn so they couldn't see my tears. "Forgive me, I don't usually show emotion, it's just…" Gwyn put a hand on my shoulder. "You don't need to apologize, it's ok." I rubbed my eyes and turned to face her. "Domoarigato gozaimasu (thank you very much)… So, you both speak Japanese?"

"That's right!" Said Gwyn. "I'm learning online and from anime." Turning to Jade I said. "And you speak Italian? Maybe you could teach me a few words, two of my friends are Italian and I don't always understand what they're saying." We looked through the Hetalia World Stars book laughing at the characters' funny expressions and reading their lines aloud while trying to imitate their voices. We discussed pairings, headcanons, AUs, and what-ifs, we even exchanged emails, phone numbers, and social media profiles. Then Jade flipped to a page with a strip introducing me. "This is so cool!" Said Jade. "Maybe more personified capitols will be added!" The comic strip was about my history and culture narrated by me. "You know, Tomoko." Said Gwyn. "This character looks just like you."

"Yeah, you're right, she does look a lot like me. I wonder why that could be?" Gwyn and Jade gave each other a look. "What did you say your name was?"

"Tomoko Namikawa."

"You said you had an older brother, what was his name?"

"Kiku Honda, why do you ask?"

"And you said two of your friends were Italian, what are their names?"

"Feliciano and Lovino Vargas, why?"

"Do they happen to be twins?"

"Yeah… why do you want to know these things?"

They exchanged the look again, then they turned away from each other and giggled. "Reasons." They answered in unison. I knew what they were thinking, but I trusted that they wouldn't tell anyone what they discovered. They were so excited about the new book, to see the latest adventures of the characters whom they loved so much. They were passionate hardcore fans who looked up to and greatly admired us nations and capitols. They thought we were amazing and perfect in every way, and were always interested in what we were doing. They were understanding and sympathetic for our dark pasts and felt the need to protect and defend us. There were millions of these fans all around the world, they called themselves Hetalians. I could only imagine how happy Jade and Gwyn must have been to find out that we were real, I liked them and wanted to protect them. "I should warn you two, next we are going to invade Charleston. We are going to march through this town on the way there. I like you guys and I want you to stay safe, so I would get out of here while you can."

"Thank you very much, Miss Tokyo." Said Gwyn. "I actually live in a different town an hour away from here. It's a big house, Jade and her family could stay with us until it's safe."

"Really? You'd do that?" Said Jade, turning to me she said. "And thank you, Miss Tokyo. I hope you and the others stay safe too." I smiled like Totoro and bowed to them. "Domoarigato gozaimasu (thank you very much), both of you. I was actually going to leave the war and go back home but you convinced me to keep going. I saw how much you Hetalians admire us nations, I just can't give up after only one battle. I must keep fighting, I won't let you down. Sayonara, Gwyn and Jade, I hope we meet again." They both gave me hugs and watched my back disappear as I walked back through the forest of a thousand adventures. "Sayonara, Tokyo-san! Tell the others that we love them too! Good luck, and gombatte! (Do your best!)" I turned and looked back at my new friends one last time before I left the store and walked back out into the rain. As I wove my way back through the forest of a thousand adventures, I was ready to continue writing my own adventure. An adventure so great that they would tell my story for centuries. And while they wander though this vast forest, they'll find the fruit of my adventure and devour it.


End file.
